Pf. Tchokoteu et al., CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND LABORATORY FIND INGS OF CEREBRAL MALARIA INA GROUP OF CHILDREN IN YAOUNDE, CAMEROON, Annales de la Societe belge de medecine tropicale, 74(3), 1994, pp. 193-202
Cerebral malaria is one of the major and deadly complications of malar
ia. In Cameroon, recent reports indicate that severe cases of malaria
are increasingly more prevalent, particularly in children. The present
study aims at describing the clinical presentation and laboratory fin
dings of cerebral malaria in children in Yaounde. All patients admitte
d in the paediatric ward of Yaounde Central Hospital with malaria, who
presented neurological signs and were tested positive for Plasmodium
in their peripheral blood were recruited into the study. 36 cases were
enrolled in all, making up 2.7% of all admissions. The patients' medi
an age was 4.5 years. 52.8% were on malaria prophylaxis. Convulsions a
nd coma with preceding hyperthermia were present in more than 90% of t
he patients. Blood paramsites level median was 1.3% on admission. One
patient had hypoglycaemia on admission and two others had it later on
after admission; 16.7% had neurological sequels at discharge and two c
hildren died (5.6%). Delay in diagnosis and initiation of treatment wi
th quinine adversely affected the prognosis of cerebral malaria in the
study group.